


The Distortion finds out about physical touch

by SpecialInteresting



Category: Langtry Museum - Tik Tok, The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Distortion Typical Derealisation, Other, Touch-Starved, but it's very casual, but still, it's more 3 + pining, it/its pronouns for Dizzy, kind of, no beta we die like Vincent, personally i think the hallways deserve a character tag, poor Dizzy also poor Solum, poor dizzy has no idea how touch works anymore, the hallways are FUCKY, there isn't a tag for them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:02:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28591443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpecialInteresting/pseuds/SpecialInteresting
Summary: It didn’t know what to do with all this information however. It could relay it to the other avatars in the museum, but the only one it felt like wouldn’t abuse that power was the Doll. And even then it wasn’t sure what they would do. So it decided to stay quiet and hope that the touches would continue, even if they were accidental.---The Distortion finds out what touch it likes, and that it in fact would like it's hand held.
Relationships: Dizzy│Distortion & Solum Lukas (Langtry Museum), Dizzy│Distortion & The Curator│River (Langtry Museum), Dizzy│Distortion & The Doll (Langtry Museum), Dizzy│Distortion & The Museum Staff, Dizzy│Distortion/Solum Lukas (Langtry Museum)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4





	The Distortion finds out about physical touch

The Distortion didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about touching things. It touched something, the thing got distorted, life went on. Or ended, in some cases.

It spent even less time thinking about others touching it. Not many touched something barely tied to the physical world, and even less did it willingly. Those that did were usually lucid or dying. Or both.

So the first time someone touched Dizzy with the intent of doing so, it broke just a little bit.

\---

It hadn’t been much of a touch. Dizzy had helped the Doll in the strange museum change batteries in their walkie- talkie. While Dizzy couldn’t promise functioning batteries, the exhibition seemed happy enough. Something about “trying to get the curator to come see it”. Dizzy couldn’t really understand why the Doll wanted to be known like that, but it always supported bothering the eye avatar, so it didn’t ask questions. So needless to say it hadn’t expected the Doll to grab its oddly sharp hand in thanks for its service. After staring at the two (probably) porcelain hands for a moment Dizzy made a noise somewhere between tv static and a dismissal.

Then it promptly shut the door it had created into the glass case of the Doll.

\---

Dizzy quickly forgot about that incident. Part of it wanted to go back to it, try to get people to touch it. The only explanation as to why those thoughts had briefly crossed its mind was because it used to crave touch, and forgetting what it had been was the only way to move forward. No time to stay stuck on something you wanted when you were… well, a person. And it wasn’t anymore.

It stayed touch free for almost a month before the thought came back, screaming and kicking.

This time it hadn’t even been a pleasant experience. Dizzy had been bothering the curator, like any other day, when he suddenly snapped and grabbed its arm to yell at it. What, Dizzy couldn’t remember, as it was too focused on being touched. It was vaguely aware of its glitching body (minus the grabbed arm) and the Curators tone changing, but only vaguely. Everything was buzzing, including it.

An hour later it came back to itself to find the curator sitting at his desk. And itself sitting on… the floor? Was it even sitting? How long ago was it since it had actually sat down?

“Are you alright? You have been unresponsive for a bit,” the curator asked, now looking down at the confused distortion.

“I am… I am.”

“Care to elaborate?” he wasn’t _compelling_ it, but Dizzy was still uncomfortable.

It shook its head. Then it opened a door and left.

\---

It started experimenting after that. It would let patrons touch it (although it did look more… human in those instances), it would visit the Doll more often to accidentally touch it, it would bump into the other avatars running around it the museum. So far it had come to the conclusion that being restricted from moving wasn’t something it enjoyed. It wasn’t sure if it was allowed to enjoy or not enjoy things, but it made categorising much easier.

So being restricted from moving. That wasn’t something it liked. It made it’s whole being feel like static, and the overwhelming feeling of needing to leave take over. It wasn’t really in the business of feeling things but it remembered the time a rogue flesh avatar had found its hallways and the need to leave it had felt back then. After some quick research it concluded this was fear.

Most touches it just saw as neutral. Bumping shoulders, holding shoulders, poking and the like. Those weren’t anything special, but it didn’t feel like it was a glitching online video when they happened. They also happened the most often, as a lot of people apparently thought going to the only security guard in the whole building would fix their fear of the exhibitions.

It did, however, like it when people touched its hands. It mostly happened with the Doll or small children wanting to find their parents. But it decided it quite liked holding hands especially. Which was difficult with knife hands. The one brave soul that had pet its face and head also got into the “good touch” category. That person had then promptly glitched out and died, but maybe that’s just what happened when faces and heads were touched. It would explain why it barely ever saw it among the other avatars and the museum patrons.

It didn’t know what to do with all this information however. It could relay it to the other avatars in the museum, but the only one it felt like wouldn’t abuse that power was the Doll. And even then it wasn’t sure what they would do. So it decided to stay quiet and hope that the touches would continue, even if they were accidental.

Hope. What a stupidly human thing to feel.

\---

Then it met Solum Lukas. First it was neutral to them, much like all the others in the museum, but it changed its mind when Solum started visiting its hallways. _Willingly._

People didn’t really visit it. It had some siblings (if it could call them that) but it barely ever saw them. And now there was this person, a human person, who _wanted_ to visit its hallways. Apparently they were nice and lonely, which made sense. They weren’t quiet and grey like the Lonely though. It hadn’t asked, but maybe Solum liked that.

The two continued this mutually beneficial existence for long enough that Dizzy started to actually feel excited whenever Solum visited. It didn’t do anything about it, but Solum had said it had been “practically vibrating”. Whatever that meant.

So it got brave.

“Can you hold my hand?” It asked one day as Solum was sitting on the multicoloured carpeted floor of its hallways. Startled, they looked up.

“I’m sorry, what?” Hadn’t it been clear enough?

“Can you, Solum, hold my hand,” it clarified, putting one of its hands out to be held.

“Physically yes,” they said, going back to whatever they were reading. Dizzy made a noise that may have sounded like a dying siren.

“No! Can you hold my hand?” it moved its hand even closer to Solum. Not too close though, people usually didn’t seem to like that. Apparently it was “unsettling” when its arm stretched to proportions it shouldn’t be able to achieve.

“You… Want me to hold your hand?” Solum looked confused, but at least they put their book away.

“Yes! No one else wants to do it,” a partial lie, “and I’m conducting an experiment,” definitely a lie.

“Well, um, okay?” Solum said and cautiously took the outstretched (literally) hand in their own.

Maybe it was Dizzy’s imagination, but holding Solums hand felt somehow better than any other hand holding it had done. To express this its face briefly glitched through four different smiles. This didn’t have the intended effect as Solum nearly let go of its hand.

“Are you okay?” they asked when Dizzy only tightened its grip on their hand.

“Very! I was expressing happiness.”

“Oh.”

They then sat silently for a while. It didn’t exactly know how long, but it did know that by the time it needed to leave to find something(one) to eat Solum had fallen asleep.

The curator wouldn’t miss one blanket.

And besides, Solum seemed happy enough to wake up not dead and with a blanket wrapped around them.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked that! Dizzy is very important to me and I love it. And I think it deserves to have its hand held.


End file.
